I see this all the time: people create Facebook business pages for their enterprises, and they post content to it rather than to their Web-site blogs.
In my opinion, this is wrong; it’s backwards. Read on if you want to know why.
General
Most articles in this category address general Web and Internet issues. Some of them are rants and ramblings that may have less to do with the Web and the Internet and more to do with life lessons and business lessons.
Why SiteGround Hosting?
I currently recommend SiteGround hosting for WordPress Web projects whose requirements match what SiteGround offers.
If you’re thinking about using me for your WordPress Web project, I will — at some point early on — ask whether you’re open to using (or moving your existing site to) SiteGround.
You may wonder why, and you should. I offer my reasons in this blog post.
Trello Board Tour: Jeff’s Blogging Board
I thought it might be a good idea to give a “tour” of my Trello blogging board. I use it to keep track of and manage blog topics. It’s not a perfect board — I don’t know any that is. I hope that by sharing how I do things in Trello — even the things I don’t do so well — it might encourage others to play around in Trello without being intimidated.
Give Gutenberg a Chance
The WordPress block editor (aka “Gutenberg”) has come a long way since it was first introduced in WordPress version 5.0 in December of 2018. It just might be time for you to give Gutenberg a chance if you’ve resisted until now.
Sharing Blog Posts on Social Networks: Why & How
If you have responsibility for online marketing for your enterprise, you might be tempted to focus most of your attention and energy on social media destinations like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so on.
I get it. Sharing on social networks is a good thing. It’s fun. It encourages engagement and interaction and can be very reinforcing (gotta love those likes and shares and comments). And it’s easy. And you probably spend a fair amount of time on those social networks already.
If you view your social networks as the center of your online marketing universe, I’m inviting you to consider shifting your paradigm. I’m suggesting you consider the argument that it’s your Web site that should be the heart and hub of your online marketing strategy.
A Time For Storytelling
It might seem odd in these extraordinary times for a Web guy to be encouraging people to blog more.
People are dying. Families are being torn apart. Livelihoods are being destroyed. I don’t think anyone alive has ever experienced such overwhelming uncertainty.
I know I’m running the risk of sounding tone deaf and out of touch to suggest we use this time to post stories online. Yet that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.
The art of storytelling is as old as the human race. I can’t think of a better time to breathe life into that art with our own stories.
Strong Testimonials – Problem with v2.40.2
Warning! Strong Testimonials is my go-to WordPress plugin for displaying testimonials. I use it on my own site and on many client sites. Today, after updating WordPress to version 5.4 — and updating Strong Testimonials from 2.40.1 to 2.40.2 — on one of those sites, the WordPress dashboard crashed. The error message: By downgrading back […]
Try Live Chat Next Time You Need Customer Service
When you’re a consumer dealing with an online merchant and you have pre-sale questions or need support for a product or service you’ve purchased, you have a number of options. In this article, I enthusiastically encourage you to give Live Chat a chance. I offer my reasons for preferring Live Chat to phone and email support, and I include an example of a successful — and money-saving — Live Chat I had with my wireless provider.
7 Lessons I’ve Learned from Live Chat
I’ve installed Live Chat on the Web sites of a number of clients. Most of those clients — especially those who hadn’t used Live Chat themselves as “consumers” — initially pushed back when I suggested they offer this particular form of customer service.
They had lots of common preconceptions. Now that I have a fair amount of experience as a Live Chat “agent” under my belt (I provide Live Chat support on behalf of most of these clients), I can tell you that most of those preconceptions were misconceptions.
Life Happens
In case you’ve been wondering where I’ve been for the past 15 months, this brief blog article addresses the question. I also take the opportunity to update interested readers on the current focus of nSiteful Web builders. Thanks for listening.